Wayback Wednesday: How Free Agents Enhanced Roster Modding

[Andrew]

Wayback Wednesday: How Free Agents Enhanced Roster Modding

A pool of free agents and the ability to sign and release players is just one of those things that we take for granted in basketball video games. After all, it's a concept that goes back to games released in the 90s, making it a well-established staple of roster customisation that we expect to see. Indeed, if you got into basketball gaming during the 2000s at the earliest, you probably haven't played many sim games that didn't represent free agency in their roster customisation functionality, or at least their season or franchise modes.

However, if you're my age and you recall playing the classics of the 90s, you'll no doubt remember how restricted we used to be when it came to modifying the rosters in-game. Even after the ability to trade players outside of season modes was added, it still took a couple of years to implement the free agents pool. It was longer still before that pool was frequently filled with players to sign! Needless to say, the addition of the free agents pool and subsequent inclusion of a selection of free agents every year significantly enhanced roster modding. Let's take a look back...way back...